Fearless
by Acting-Singing-Bella
Summary: “It’s okay to be afraid sometimes, Gabriella. You don’t have to hide it.” He told her, a serious tone to his voice. She shook her head at him, avoiding eye contact. “I’m not afraid of anything. Except for one thing…”


**Fearless**

**Author's Note: ****Hey everyone! Okay so I haven't written a story in a while and I would really like some reviews and suggestions. I have a bunch of stories that I want to come out, but I need you guys to help me though by reading and reviewing this story. Plus, I'm seeing HSM3 tonight and I'm feeling very musical! **

**Summary: ****"It's okay to be afraid sometimes, Gabriella. You don't have to hide it." He told her, a serious tone to his voice. She shook her head at him, avoiding eye contact. "I'm not afraid of anything. Except for one thing…"**

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_Well you stood there with me in the doorway  
My hands shake  
I'm not usually this way but  
You pull me in and I'm a little more brave  
It's the first kiss,  
It's flawless,  
Really something,  
It's fearless._

_Oh yeah  
And I don't know how it gets better than this  
You take my hand and drag me head first  
Fearless  
And I don't know why but with you I would dance  
In a storm in my best dress  
Fearless_

_- Taylor Swift 'Fearless'_

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Gabriella Montez was always known as being one of the most fearless human beings in Troy Bolton's life. Troy had watched her perform several times without ever getting anxious, watching the scariest movies without ever screaming and going on the highest roller coaster without ever shuddering in fear. The only time he had ever seen her afraid was after her father died from killing himself and she began to fear that she would get a mental illness like him and end up like him. But somehow, she went back to her fearless self and never talked about her father's death again. Troy looked at her everyday and always wondered if there was even one fear that she had. But every guess he made, she just went out and proved him wrong. He had come to the conclusion that she was just not afraid of anything. But little did he know, she had one fear; a fear that had been eating away at her for too long.

Troy watched Gabriella as they sat on his sofa in his living room. Troy's parents and Gabriella's mother had gone to a casino for the weekend and Gabriella was to stay with Troy until they got home. Troy was dressed casually in his jeans and a light green polo shirt while Gabriella wore her dark blue skinny jeans and a black v-neck top. They were both watching yet another horror movie together. Troy didn't get scare to easily of horror movies, though there was the occasional time that he jumped in fright. And Gabriella, in her leonine and perfect posture, didn't even flinch at the sight of the horrific happenings in the movie. It was almost unnatural that she was so fearless. Troy smirked to himself when he looked at his best friend. He didn't even realize how beautiful she was when she was just watching a movie. She was naturally beautiful and he found himself staring at her. Grinning from ear to ear, he poked her side causing her to just look at him, no indication of fear in her eyes.

"Gabriella, that guy just got chopped in half, don't you find that disturbing?" Troy asked, poking fun at her a little bit. With a smile, Gabriella just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Not really. You can tell that the blood is all fake and that all of this is special effects. It's not scary." Gabriella stated, concluding with her trademark sentence. Troy chuckled and he nudged her side again.

"You are so predictable, Gabs. You're a killjoy when it comes to anything exhilarating like going on roller coasters and watching movies. You can't look at these like they are nothing. They must've scared you at some point in your life." Troy declared. Gabriella shook her head, turning to face him completely.

"They never made me scared. They always looked like something I would enjoy, not fear. There's no point in being scared of something that gives you an adrenaline rush." Gabriella explained to Troy, her eyes never leaving his. Troy stared at her, awe in his eyes. She was absolutely incredible. He couldn't even begin to describe it. He stupidly took her hand in his and smiled at her.

"That's a way of looking at it." Troy idiotically said. Gabriella looked down at their interlocked hands and she stiffened immediately. Troy looked at her with confusion. Why was she suddenly so rigid? A few moments ago she was so calm now she was uptight. She pulled her hand out of his and looked back at the television.

"Troy, do you mind if I get a drink?" Gabriella asked, her voice trembling. Troy nodded his head with a dumbfounded expression upon his face. He was utterly bewildered.

"Y-yeah of course. Here, I'll get it for you, stay put." Troy rambled idiotically and he got off the couch and walked into his kitchen, pausing before doing anything. What the hell just happened?!

As he got a glass and grabbed the bottle of diet Pepsi, he tried to reassess what had just happened. Gabriella was just talking about getting an adrenaline rush when she does things that would scare the life out of some people and then he was intrigued by…her smile? Everything felt so surreal and he didn't know why he was finding himself going gaga over Gabriella's smile. He saw her smile everyday for the past three years of his life…why was now so different? Why was her smile suddenly such a big deal to him? Was it because…he loved her? Troy shook away those thoughts immediately. You're not supposed to fall in love with your best friend; it would ruin their friendship if he fell in love with her. And Gabriella would never go for her best friend either; she cared too much about their friendship.

But the question that bugged him the most was why did Gabriella react the way she did? He couldn't understand why she was so rigid and pulled her hand out of his so quickly and awkwardly. It was like she was zoning out. But there was something in Gabriella's eyes that Troy couldn't get over. The look she had in her eyes was something he had never seen in all his years of knowing her; fear. It was like she was afraid that Troy was holding her hand. Troy silently groaned in confusion. He had always been so good at understanding people and their out of the ordinary moods, but this was the one time that he had failed himself. This was the one human being that he was anxious to analyze. Walking back into the living room, he gave Gabriella her drink and said a small thank you before sipping the refreshing soda. They then sat in an awkward silence as they watched the rest of the movie. As the movie credits rolled along, Troy looked over at Gabriella and he sighed, hoping to get her attention.

"Well that movie wasn't as good as the critics said it was." Troy said nonchalantly, hoping to break the ice. Gabriella glanced over and she gave a weak smile and nodded her head.

"Yeah I had higher expectations of it. But I can't say that it was too bad. It was okay." Gabriella said; her mind obviously elsewhere. Troy only nodded his head as Gabriella looked at the clock hanging on the wall and then got up from the couch.

"Well it's almost eleven and I think I'm going to turn in for bed now. I'll see you in the morning Troy." Gabriella told him, beginning to walk towards the staircase to go to the spare bedroom where she would spend the night. Troy shocked himself when he found his feet running in front of Gabriella, stopping her from going up the stairs. Gabriella raised both her eyebrows and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Troy, what are you doing?" Gabriella asked, shocked by Troy's sudden movement. Troy stared at her, completely dumbfounded. What was he doing? What was the reason for this? What was he going to say?

"Gabriella, I need to talk to you." Troy finally answered. Gabriella nodded her head, urging him to tell her without any hesitation. Troy nervously bit his lip and he placed a hand on her shoulder, feeling her go a little bit taut, but not as much as she did before.

"Will you tell me what's wrong? Before I noticed that you looked a little…tense. Like you were a little bit afraid of me. I just was…" Troy began to say, but Gabriella quickly cut him off.

"I was never afraid Troy. Nothing is wrong, I swear." Gabriella insisted. Troy raised his eyebrows, his hand not lifting from Gabriella's shoulder.

"If nothing is wrong, why were you so alarmed when I held your hand? Why did you stiffen like you did? And why did your eyes look so appalled and afraid when you ripped your hands from out of mine? Obviously there was a reason and you are going to tell me!" Troy fiercely told her, his voice rising unintentionally. Gabriella stared at him in shock, not knowing how to react to his rising voice and she tried to move past him to go up the stairs, but Troy raised both his hands, holding her in place. Troy's sapphire blue eyes appeared to be remorseful.

"Gabriella, I'm sorry. But I can't let you go to bed without knowing what you're really thinking and what you're so afraid of." Troy told her, care for her wellbeing in his voice. Gabriella stared into those cerulean eyes of his and she shook her head and looked away from him. Troy sighed and he gave her a side hug, since she wouldn't give him a full one.

"It's okay to be afraid sometimes, Gabriella. You don't have to hide it." He told her, a serious tone to his voice. She shook her head at him, avoiding eye contact.

"I'm not afraid of anything. Except for one thing…" Gabriella started to say but then her voice trailed. Troy stared at her in surprise. Did she admit that she was afraid of one thing? This was something that he was going to have to call a memorable day in history.

"What are you afraid of?" Troy asked, his voice hardly above a whisper. Gabriella sighed to herself before slowly looking back into those cobalt eyes of his. Her copper eyes were locked onto his sapphire ones and she gingerly lifted a hand and let her fingertips touch his cheek. They traveled from his cheekbone down to the bottom of his jaw. She bit her lip and moved in closer to his body.

"It's what you'll say that scares me." Gabriella whispered just loud enough for him to hear her. Troy was about to question what she meant, when he suddenly felt her lips crush over his. Gabriella's gentle and immaculate lips brushed gently against Troy's lips several times as her arms wrapped around his neck, only pulling him in closer to her. Troy couldn't find a coherent thought as Gabriella kissed him. This was his best friend; the best friend he told everything to. It was wrong for him to be kissing his best friend. But it somehow felt so right for him to. He gingerly placed his hands at the side of her waist, trying to come to terms with the fact that his best friend was kissing him. Gabriella slowly parted from him and she opened his eyes and searched his eyes, to see if they felt the same as she did. Troy just stared at her, not knowing what to say. He was left speechless and had no emotion in his eyes.

"Troy…please say something." Gabriella almost begged, needing to hear Troy's reaction. But Troy didn't say anything; he just continued to stare at her, not knowing what to say. It was like there was a lump in his throat that stopped every word he wanted to say from coming out. Gabriella's eyes moistened with tears when he didn't answer. Gabriella took it as a painful rejection. Backing away from Troy, she tried to hide the tears that threatened to fall. Her one fear came true.

"I'm going home." Gabriella quickly said as she slipped on her shoes and staggered to the door. Troy ran after her but then he stopped at the front door when he saw her get into her car and drive off into the dark night. Troy watched her drive away until she was a little spec in the distance. As soon as he walked back into his house, it began to rain outside.

Listening to the rain that hit the window from outside, Troy began to think about what had just happened with Gabriella. Gabriella kissed him. He didn't kiss her, but she kissed _him_. It seemed so illusory to him. She had put some of her fearless personality into kissing him, but the fear of hearing what he would say was what she was so afraid of. She didn't fear heights, clowns, the dark or Tom Cruise…she feared Troy Bolton. The only fear she had was about him. The fearless feared the one thing that she loved the most. Troy put his face into his hands and tried to think. If he wasn't such a fool, what would his answer have been? What would he have told Gabriella when she asked what he thought after they kissed? He probably would've been honest and told her that he had never kissed a girl with as much passion as her and he couldn't help but notice how perfectly their bodies fit together and how they matched stroke for stroke and touch by touch. He probably would've told her that he would want a second kiss…

And then it suddenly hit Troy. He loved Gabriella. Not liked, but _loved_ her. Those feelings were always there, but he just always denied them. He fell in love with his best friend; something he had never planned on or anticipated on. He even tried to deny it now, but the more he did, the more he realized how madly, deeply and irrevocably in love he was with Gabriella. As he thought back on all the times they hung out together or talked to each other, he could see that ever smile he gave to her was a sign on longing for her and craving for her. What was he thinking when he let her walk out that door?! Ignoring the pondering rain, he ran out of his house and ran all the way to Gabriella's house, knowing that she wouldn't answer the phone if he tried to call. Troy was drenched from head to toe by the time he made it to Gabriella's house.

Troy jumped into her backyard and began to climb up the big oak tree that led right to her balcony and her bedroom. Troy saw Gabriella just sitting on her bed, with tears streaking down her face as she looked through a few photo albums. Troy physically felt his heart break watching her cry. Not wanting to wait and watch her cry anymore, Troy knocked on the glass window from her balcony door. Gabriella's head shot right up and her once despondent eyes became enraged within seconds after seeing Troy. But somehow, she got up off her bed and opened the balcony door and gave Troy a cold stare. Before Gabriella could even question what he was doing there, he grabbed her trembling hand and pulled her out into the rain, allowing her to get wet with him. This infuriated Gabriella more than before.

"Troy, what the hell are you doing here?!" Gabriella maliciously asked, hoping that the rain would hide the incessant tears that continued to fall from her eyes. Troy sighed and he rested a hand on her neck and stared into her eyes.

"Gabriella, please I need to talk to you." Troy told her. Gabriella shook her head, refusing to listen to what Troy had to say.

"It's too little, too late Troy. You missed your chance. I can't wait around forever to hear what you have to say after I tell you how I feel. I don't waste my time on something like this." Gabriella harshly told him, her tears mixing in with the cold droplets of rain. Troy didn't say anything; he just stared at her and let a smile grow across his face. He snaked his arm around Gabriella's tiny waist and pulled her close to his body. To Troy's shock, Gabriella did not push him off like he had expected her to do; she allowed him to bring her in close to his body. Troy stared into those chocolate eyes of her and he allowed his free hand to cradle her cheek into his hand, his thumb caressed her cheek softly, wiping away the warm tears and the cold droplets of rain from her face.

"You're not the only fearless one here Gabriella." Troy confidently told her, his thumb refusing to stop stroking her cheek. Before Gabriella could question him, he leaned in and captured her lips with his own. Troy kissed her with everything he had. He kissed her with just as much passion as she did the first time they kissed. Troy smiled against her lips when he felt her respond to the kiss. Regretfully, they parted from each other slowly, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. Troy smiled lovingly as he caressed her cheek.

"Gabriella…I love you. I love how you are so fearless and beautiful. I love how I can have a terrible day and you are the only one able to cheer me up. But I think I love that you feel the same way about me too. I love you Gabriella; I always have and I always will." Troy promised her, kissing her forehead. Gabriella smiled lovingly at him and let tears of love and joy fall from her eyes. Gabriella moved in closer to Troy and kissed him once more and then smiled.

"Thank you." Gabriella whispered. Troy smiled and continued to caress her cheeks.

"Now…how about we show each other how fearless we are and dance in the rain?" Troy suggested with a growing grin. Gabriella returned to grin and she passionately kissed Troy as he spun her around in the cold and moist air. Their fearlessness shone through as they kissed and danced in the rain, something that they had been so afraid to show one another.

**The End**

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_**Read and Review Please! :)**_


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